Monday, September 21, 2009

How exciting! The Humble Libertarian's first birthday is coming up this October 2nd. That's right, this blog turns 1 in less than two weeks!

It is unbelievable to consider how far we've come in such a short time and positively energizing to dream big for this libertarian website's future. To celebrate, I'm giving away some really awesome prizes:

- Official NRA members-only shooter's cap- Your choice of monthly NRA magazines- Membership card and automobile decal- Insurance for you and your guns- Invitations to "Friends of NRA" dinners, other special events and more...

GRAND PRIZE - An autographed copy of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, by none other than U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul. I got this pocket Constitution and Declaration of Independence signed by Dr. Rand Paul during a private reception when he came to speak in Nashville last month, and I am giving it away for The Humble Libertarian's birthday!

How To Enter The Birthday Giveaway

The deadline for entry is at the end of the day on Thursday, October 1st. I will be doing a drawing for the prizes. There are a number of ways to enter:

If you Tweet about the contest with a link to this post, your name will get entered into the drawing once. You may Tweet up to 3 times to get 3 entries into the drawing. Include the hashtag "#THL" in each Tweet so that I can keep up and give you the right amount of entries.

If you e-mail your friends, family, co-workers, etc. (be sure to carbon copy me) to tell them about The Humble Libertarian with a link to this contest, you'll get one entry for each person you e-mail (limit of 5). I won't use or give out your friends' e-mail addresses and I will delete them from my Gmail account at the end of this contest.

If you subscribe to this blog via e-mail to get daily updates on news and politics from a perspective that emphasizes limited government, strict constitutionalism, and individual liberty, your name will be entered three times into the Birthday Giveaway Contest. Subscribe by typing your e-mail address into the box below and clicking "Subscribe."

If you are a blogger and do a short post on your blog about this contest and link back to this post, you will get 3 entries into the drawing. Just be sure to e-mail me with a link to your post.

If you put the following badge in a prominent place on your blog or website, you will get 3 entries. Again, be sure to e-mail me with a link to your page so that I know.

If you purchase any Libertarian Merchandise at all from my store between now and the end of the contest, you will get 4 entries in the drawing. Don't forget to e-mail me to let me know what you purchased and include the billing name.

You are welcome (and encouraged!) to do any combination of the options above to get your name entered into the drawing as many times as possible. It's perfect because you still get a chance to win even if you only do one thing, but if you do more, your odds improve!

The Legal Stuff

I will need a name and shipping address for winners so that I can ship you your prizes, and when I announce the winners on this blog, I will announce them by first name and state or city only.

As I noted with each method of entry above, make sure I know about it and make sure I can get in touch with you.

I will not publish, sell, or make available to a third party in any way, your e-mail address when you enter, or any other private information you give me like a shipping address if you win.

I reserve the right to amend the terms of the contest as necessary. I'm sure that won't happen, but it never hurts to say so in writing just in case.

So what are you waiting for? Start racking up those entries with tweets, e-mails, subscriptions, blogs, badges, and/or a purchase of your favorite item from our Libertarian Merchandise page!

Youv'e got Left Coast Rebel supporting you. I bet you will have more traffic really quickly now. When he started promoting us over at KOOK's manifesto, we really took off. Were happy where we were at, but after going to DC on 9/12 as bloggers and taking part in several events including the rally, we know there is far more to achieve now. We have figured out that the best way to gain readership is just to do what you're good at. If it is more locally oriented, that can work, being more nationally oriented has worked for us as we are a team from two very different places. I will add my name to your list, and I will repost LCR's post about you on our blog (KOOK's Manifesto). I am not so concerned about winning stuff, more about helping out a fellow independent thinker.

I was in Tennessee in 2002 and lived in Blackburns district and voted for her in '02. I also voted for Bredesen, showing my independent streak. From what little news I get from there, he has been one of the best Dems there are. His repub contender did not have nearly as good a message as Bredesen and I thought the Repub sounded like a RINO. Of all the votes I have ever casted, voting for Blackburn is the one I am most proud of Marsha won by a healthy margin, so my vote really wouldn't have mattered but I look back at Reagan, I wasn't able to vote until Bush 41. I wish I could have casted a vote for Reagan. It's much like the DC march that KOOK and I attended on 9/12. I believe that it will be in the history books one day and I was there.

KOOK- barely, just barely- I live in Blackburn's district. That's right. She's my Congressman (and prefers to be called Congressman to Congresswoman because she hates political correctness).

Andrew- Good on you man! I love Blackburn and will be delighted to cast my vote for her this coming year. She and just a very few like her are the reason I can't support term limits in our U.S. Congress.

I went back and read all the comments from the "anonymous" here. The person named anonymous here looks more conservative. If by chance I named the wrong person here please accept my apoogies as I had a horrible encounter with some one with same name. It brought out my "bad side." a side I prefer to keep on a short leash as I can be brutal when telling someone off, I am on a different path now and prefer different means to win debate.

By the way, I glanced through your stuff. You will be a good fit with LCR. You are very lucky to be getting that spot. LCR has over 200 members now. When I joined up with Kook, last March, he had 23 members. I had only been doing my own blog for 3 weeks at that point. Getting to co-host an established blog even with a small readership, and with so many links to others was a great opportunity. KOOK and I given how we write, what and how we think, are a great team. We both push and compliment each other as we write and do not put any rules on each other. Now, we are at or over 80 members, and we are getting tons of hits and far more comments. I don't know why others aren't teaming up as we have. We know that at least one of us will post each day. So we get days off if we desire. I believe that except for weekends, people come here daily to read info posted daily. They don't care to see yesterdays posts. Bottom line is, with the advantages having help gives, and as long as you do it right, Teaming up a great idea.

Hi WE: I'm glad I found your Blog! I'm friends with Andrew33 and Kook! I found you from AD33's post. He was right, you have a great blog, I'll do the stuff to enter your contest, who knows, I might get lucky. Nice to meet a fellow intelligent, right thinking Patriot. Cool Blog you have here! Link exchange? See my site and comment and let me know.Bye, Bunni

Andrew- I see. Yeah I think a lot of people just use "anonymous" as a name if they prefer to remain anonymous! So it's likely a coincidence.

As for teaming up. You're absolutely right. The economists like Adam Smith call it "specialization." If we can trade off a little in a different skill sets, we can accomplish more together than we can alone- which is why capitalism rocks!

--

Hey- Thanks, Bunni! I certainly appreciate it. As for link exchanges- I'm always glad to participate. Let me know which blog though, as I see you are an author on three. -and participating in my contest in as many ways as you can rocks! Thanks so much.

You are correct about specialism. When I came to KOOKs, I don't think he even knew I have been studying climate for many years. I can beat the best college educated climatologists on man made climate change, which is a well done hoax. They manipulate data as well as pick and choose what data they want. Most regular don't know how to access and read raw climate data and then cannot prove the dishonest climatologists wrong. Also KOOK and I live far apart. He lives in sw Missouri, I live in SE Florida, which are at opposite ends of the political and socialogical spectrum. That helps us to gain a better grasp on the pulse of the country. There are many aspects of having a team that are helpful. For me, I have to take time off from blogging due to health issues, but I know KOOK will be on it and I have plenty of friends who like it when I repost their work. That gives me the ability to take time off and keep fresh material on the blog.

Sign me up! I am so proud of how far your blog has come, Wes! And I've always thought very highly of how you present things as an intelligent, challenging debate... but always, always respectful. THAT, to me, is one of the key things that makes you stand out.

Oh, and here's a birthday card for you: http://tennzen.blogspot.com/2009/09/happy-blog-birthday-to-humble.html